ADAMS BREED APART
Jets’ new-age safety
Jamal Adams bounces around the locker room like a kid let out for recess, talking to Leonard Williams in the back corner before cracking jokes about God-knows-what with Marcus Maye across the way. Then, he pops up next to Steve McLendon.
Lose sight of him for a split second and he’s gone, off to chop it up with the next teammate.
The Jets rookie safety is in perpetual motion, floating around like a social butterfly, making sure everything is just right for a team that he believes is destined for great things. He loves every second of it. “He’s passionate about football… and that’s what you see,” defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson said. “It’s not him trying to lead or trying to show you that he’s the leader. He’s passionate about what he does. He treats this game like he’s a little kid. He’s going out there and he’s playing with effort. The guys feed off him. So that’s what you see. It’s not him trying to lead. It’s just him loving football.”
Adams is part of the nucleus amid the organization’s culture change, a pivotal piece to a rebuilding puzzle that is far from complete. He might have turned only 22 this week, but he walks, talks and acts much older. His expectations for himself far exceed what anyone else wants out of the No. 6 overall pick. “I’m going to change the position,” Adams told the Daily News. “When you go out there on the field, you don’t try to stay the same. You try to make something happen. You try to do something different. When Odell (Beckham Jr.) made the one-handed catch, he changed the culture, right? He changed what receivers do now. Everybody’s catching with one hand, right? Because of him. Even though people were making one-handed catches, he did something that people had never seen before. So just give it time, brother. That’s all.” Adams is a rare and special talent, but what could a safety possibly do on par with Beckham’s show-stopping one-handed grab that became the stuff of legend? Do a somersault before making a tackle? “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Adams said with a laugh. “Things happen. It’s about making plays, man.” Adams’ larger point has merit. The rookie wants to make it clear that the value of his position has grown through the years. In this day and age of spread, offensive-friendly football, safeties have never been more important. Adams’ ability to line up all over the field is a gift that few players possess. He’s a coach’s dream, a versatile chess piece with a skillset to play inside and outside the box as a ball hawk, cover man or blitzer. “The role is bigger than what people understand,” Adams said. “The safety role is very key to having a great defense. It’s almost like having a quarterback on the defensive side. If you don’t have a good quarterback on offense, you struggle. If you don’t have good safeties that can communicate and be versatile on the back end and make plays, you struggle.” Adams, who has been on the field for all but 12 of the Jets’ 419 defensive snaps, has made difference-making plays, but there also have been some growing pains in the first six weeks of his career. He’s typically had solid eye discipline — an invaluable part of playing safety — but paid the price a few times like on Browns tight end David Njoku’s touchdown catch in Week 5. Adams also had his first taste of the Gronk Experience last week. “We’re extremely happy where Jamal is,” defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said. “This guy brings a lot of energy. He makes some plays, he gives up some plays and he is growing.” Wilson’s mantra in the defensive backs room is clear: A slow decision is a bad decision. So, it’s been critical for Adams to trust his eyes. “If he hasn’t seen it before, there might be a little hesitation, but once he sees it, he remembers,” Wilson said about Adams’ retention. “He’s a guy that you can give little nuggets to. Tips. There’s a difference between guessing and anticipating. When he sees something, he anticipates. He doesn’t guess.” Adams, the highest safety drafted since Kansas City took Eric Berry fifth in 2010, is also trying to make the Jets look smart for selecting him so early. Impact safeties in the past 15 years typically are taken later in the first round or even the mid-late rounds, but Adams is hoping to change the perception of his position. He wants to do things that have never been seen before, but what does that exactly mean? “I can’t tell you,” Adams said with a smile. “That’s something that’s going to be special. It makes plenty of sense. When you see it, you’ll understand it.” Can’t wait.